A report clearing county Public Works Director Paavo Ogren of conflict of interest is “bogus,” says the woman who formally made the allegation. She has asked the county counsel to provide conflict of interest ordinances for her to study. “It’s a blanket incorrect statement,” said Lisa Schicker, former member of the Los Osos Community Services District, of the report issued last week by County Counsel Warren Jensen. Earlier this year, Schicker had asked Jensen to investigate possible improper behavior on Ogren’s part.

Released last week, Jensen’s report said he found no interest or bias by Ogren in his supervision of the Los Osos sewer project.

The accusations were unsubstantiated, he wrote. Many were based on personal opinion with no documentary backup or legal rationale, he wrote. Schicker calls that “blatantly false.”

“The complaint was sourced and referenced, and original documentation was certainly provided numerous times,” Schicker wrote The tribune in an e-mail.

Sign Up and Save

Schicker told The Tribune that Jensen “avoided touchy subjects” she raised in the 1,300 pages of documents she gave him to investigate.

“He pretty much got paid to read it, and it looks like that’s what he did,” Schicker said.

“A dismissal without any internal investigation in inexcusable,” Schicker wrote.

Jensen said he had reviewed his report and found it “appropriate.”

In her latest missive, Schicker has asked Jensen to provide her with “the public works, administrative and contract procurement departments' conflict of interest policies, the latest revised versions.”

Read Next

Snow on the mountains didn’t show up in SLO County, California, on Thursday, though frost was spotted in the Santa Margarita area. The weather forecast for the Central Coast shows rain next week into March.